After hot start to August, cooler temperatures and rainfall expected over the weekend

CATHY WURZER: It's been a pretty warm week so far. Definitely appropriate for the first week of August. We're going to get our weekly weather update from NPR's Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner, who's on the line. Hey, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, Z. Good to talk to you, as always.

CATHY WURZER: Likewise, my friend. So when you look back at the summer, it's been, let's see, well, pretty muggy and pretty warm-ish and wet. What do you make of it?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. And believe it or not, we're now 2/3 of the way through meteorological summer because it's August. I don't know how that happened. It happened pretty quickly. Look, here's the thing. It's been a warm summer, as you mentioned. About 2.75 degrees warmer than average for the Twin Cities through June and July combined. June was the third warmest on record.

We've talked about that 5 degrees warmer than average. July, pretty close to average. Just 2/10 of a degree warmer than average and interesting to note that this June was warmer than this July. And that's only happened 10 times in 150 years. It was 75 degrees for the average in June versus 74.5 in July. So a little warmer in June this year. That's unusual. And people want to know about 90 degree days because we count them, of course. We've had 20 so far this season. The annual long-term average is about 13. Looks like we could add two this week. So that would put us at 22. Way above average for the year.

And we're just past, Cathy, what I would call the climatological solstice. That is the warmest week of the year, which really is about that third week of July. So we know about the sun solstice, the summer solstice in late June. Our warmest week of the year is late July. So we've just passed that mark, Cathy, as we head into August, and, what, state fair in three weeks?

CATHY WURZER: I know. I can't believe that. I mentioned it's been wet. And, of course, that's wrong. We're in a drought. But there have been some areas of the state that have just gotten pounded by rain of late.

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

CATHY WURZER: No. I'm just kind of curious about the rainfall update. Where are we right now?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. It's a really localized pattern this year, which is interesting because we know we've got drought over most of Minnesota now. But we've seen some of these heavy pockets of rain. Now, Twin Cities airport, we're running a 5 degree rainfall deficit since June 1. But just a few miles away, parts of South Minneapolis have had an inch more than the airport. Saint Paul. Ron Trend, our meteorologist there in Highland Park, he got 2.5 inches of rain last week.

So, really, Saint Paul and the suburbs have done better in these recent scattered thunderstorms that have come through. So we've got these highly localized variations in rainfall. It's a lot greener in the eastern Twin Cities than it is out here at the weather lab in the west. And interesting to note-- out around Glenwood, parts of Western Minnesota, they've had 3 to 4 inches of rain in the last week or two. So I think when tomorrow's drought monitor comes out, it's possible that we could see maybe a one category improvement in parts of Western Minnesota. We'll keep an eye on that tomorrow, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Interesting. So what can we expect this week, this weekend?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. You mentioned it's steamy out there. The dew point's 74 now in Marshall, Minnesota. So that's some corn sweat going on down there. It hit 70 today in the Twin Cities. I think we'll be close to 90 today. In the 90s tomorrow. Just very isolated thunderstorms today. There's a few showers now. Ivanhoe. Marshall. Granite Falls. One in the North Metro. There's a marginal risk for a severe storm today from the northern Twin Cities north all the way to the Canadian border. But it looks like coverage will be pretty spotty, Cathy.

We'll cool off a bit as we head into the weekend. 85 Friday. Chances for showers and storms Saturday and Sunday. And this is good because I see a potentially wetter pattern setting up this weekend into next week. We might even be in the 70s a couple of days next week. So fingers crossed, Cathy. We could see some more rainfall around parts of Minnesota. Some of the models saying maybe 1 to 3 inches for Central and Southern Minnesota in the next 10 days.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow. That would be fantastic if that happens. Say, a couple of things before you go. One, I was out west for vacation. And I just noticed-- of course, maybe it was where I was. But the moon, the moon that we were seeing was gorgeous. And I know that in August we've got, what, is it two supermoons or something?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. Two. We do. And we had one last night, which was full. And we have a rare blue supermoon. So a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. That happens August 31 this year. That will be the closest one to Earth this year. And by the way, you won't have another blue supermoon for nine years. So get out there and check it out. Supermoons, again, closer to Earth's orbit. 226,000 miles away versus about 253,000 for the farthest moons. And supermoons can be about 14% bigger, up to 30% brighter. That's why they look so bright out there. Cathy, they call these perigee moons. Perigee. The closest orbit to Earth. So that's what a supermoon is. And, boy, I saw it last night. It was stunning.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, so pretty. Say, before you go, Climatecast. What's on the Climatecast?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. The cannabis industry, right. Big week for cannabis in Minnesota. And they're trying to get more sustainable and climate friendly. Growing weed uses a lot of power, apparently. So we'll talk about how the cannabis industry can become a little more climate friendly on Climatecast this week. That's tomorrow during All Things Considered.

CATHY WURZER: Excellent. All right. I hope you have a good day.

PAUL HUTTNER: You too. Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks that's NPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.